Creative Deal Making

The Tiger's have signed Magglio Ordonez...

The Detroit Tigers snared the last remaining premiere free agent of the offseason, agreeing to a $75 million, five-year contract with outfielder Magglio Ordonez, a baseball source said Saturday.

Ordonez's deal could be worth up to $105 million over seven seasons, the source told the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Oh, but the Tigers are stupid now because Magglio's knee injury may be the end of his career right?

Under the complicated deal, Detroit would have the right to void the contract after the 2005 season if Ordonez has a recurrence of the left knee injury that hampered his production with the Chicago White Sox for most of last year, and the recurrence lands him on the disabled list for 25 days or more.

The 31-year-old Ordonez gets a $6 million signing bonus and a $6 million salary in 2005, meaning the Tigers' exposure is $12 million.

These are the things creative GM's work out. Are you paying attention Jim Hendry? If you were so worried about Magglio's knee would it have been so hard to hammer out a clause in the contract as the Tigers did?

I knew Magglio was not going to get less than J.D. Drew in over all money. Drew has been injured most of his career and last year was the only year he went most of the season without getting injured. Magglio has had a very impressive career and this knee injury is his first major injury ever. Magglio was getting paid one way or another, only delusional Cubs fans thought he could be had on the cheap.

I know most Cubs fans would balk at the rest of the contract of $15 million per year, but if fully recovered Magglio is worth that kind of money. The Cubs offered $75 million for 5 years on Beltran. I don't see why Hendry could not of worked out the same kind of money for Magglio and inserted a clause like the Tiger's did to take some risk out of the deal.

Well ofcourse this would assume that the Cubs were actually serious about getting Beltran/the offensive upgrade. I think it is safe to assume the Cubs were never serious about upgrading the offense in any way this off-season. It was strictly a P.R. move by Cubs management.